


Reunion

by IronQuotes



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:14:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28751994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronQuotes/pseuds/IronQuotes
Summary: “Wait, what room are you in? Because your view looks just like my view” Lindsey says, confusion evident in her voice.“Umm..”, Emily picks up her keycard wallet, “714. Why? Where are you”“716! You know what this means, Dasani? We’re neighbours!! Wait, do you have a conjoining door in your room?”They finally reunite at camp, but COVID protocols mean they can't see each other just yet.
Relationships: Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett
Comments: 5
Kudos: 106





	Reunion

Emily pressed the key card against the door, grateful to see the green light blink and hear the automatic lock moving. She pushed open the door with her shoulder, trudging into the room. The door slammed shut behind her and she made her way to the bed, dropping her duffel and backpack on her way, not bothered about where they ended up. She flopped down on to the bed face first. She loved camp, there was no doubt about that, but she also hated travel days. This one was particularly frustrating. Firstly, her boarding card wouldn’t download onto her phone, so she’d had to queue to get a paper one printed. Then her flight had been delayed, and just to top off her fantastic day, her luggage had been the last to reach the carousel. 

She lay spread eagle on the bed, her eyes closing as she succumbed to the effort of the day. It was still only 4pm, but she figured a nap would be inconsequential given she wasn’t able to do anything else. With the new COVID protocols in place, she’d been tested upon her arrival to the hotel and was not allowed to leave her room until the results came through. She’d been advised she’d receive a text once they had been processed, but until then, she was confined to room 714. 

Just as she felt herself nodding off, she was awoken by the message tone on her phone. 

TGH: Son, you here yet? I’m bored. 

Dasani: Yeah, was just falling asleep. Thanks for the wake up call. 

TGH: Facetime me. 

Dasani: No. I’m sleepy. 

TGH: Facetime me until you fall asleep then. 

Dasani: Stop being needy. We facetimed this morning. 

TGH: That was ages ago. Just facetime me. I’m boooorrrreeedd.

Dasani: Night Linds! 

Emily throws her phone across the bed and closes her eyes again. 

*Brrp Brrp* Emily lifts her head groaning at the facetime ringtone coming from her phone. She rolls across the bed and picks up her phone, swiping to accept the call without needing to check who is on the other end. 

“I said I’m sleeping!” Emily mumbles, disgruntled, refusing to open her eyes. 

“You can sleep later, it’s like the middle of the day.” Lindsey responds. “Plus, if you sleep now, you won’t sleep tonight. So I’m basically doing you a favor here.” 

Emily stays silent, eyes closed, hoping that if she waits long enough, Lindsey will get bored and hang up. Apparently today is just not her day though. 

“Okay, well I’ll just keep watching TV here until you decide to start talking to me.” Lindsey leans over to her laptop and starts up Netflix, a wry smile on her face. They both know Emily won’t hang up. Having not seen each other in person for the last 10 months, their friendship has been limited to the current form of communication. It’s become second nature at this point though. They’ve been on facetime while making dinner, watching television, doing laundry, food shopping. You name it, they’ve done it through facetime. Well, except that.. of course. 

“Em.. look at me..” Emily smirks, involuntarily and Lindsey catches it immediately. “Come on, open your little peepers for me”. 

Emily laughs, unable to remain serious. She opens her eyes and focuses on Lindsey. 

“Fine” she huffs. “You have your way, what do you want”

“I want my best friend to talk to me! Is that too much to ask?” Lindsey questions, sweetly. 

“Best friend, eh? I thought that was reserved for Sophia these days”, Emily retorts, trying to sound jovial but failing miserably. “I’m surprised she wasn’t your first call”

“Oh Em, give it up..” Lindsey starts. Then, feeling mischievous, “Plus, I was on the phone to her before you arrived.”

Emily rolls her eyes, “Of course you were. I’m hanging up now”. 

“I’m kidding Dasani! We’re still a package deal and I cannot wait to see you in real life, FINALLY.” Lindsey responds, tampering Emily’s fears. “Anyway, what floor are you on? I’m going to make you jealous with my sick view of the pool”

“I’m on the seventh. I’ll give you a run for your money though, because my view is guaranteed to be sicker than yours”. She turns her phone camera round and heads to the window, “See? Top that, Horan!”

“Wait, what room are you in? Because your view looks just like my view” Lindsey says, confusion evident in her voice. 

“Umm..”, Emily picks up her keycard wallet, “714. Why? Where are you”

“716! You know what this means, Dasani? We’re neighbours!! Wait, do you have a conjoining door in your room?”

Emily looks round the room, her eyes landing on the thick wooden door beside the desk. She runs over to it. 

“Yeah, I do, knock on it so I know if it’s you or not”

Emily clearly hears a knock, weirdly faint, but definitely there. Before she can stop herself, she unlocks the door, tearing it open. She looks up, the butterflies in her stomach doing overtime, then stopping in an instant while a looming disappointment takes over. 

“There’s a second door, it’s yours”, Emily exhales. She hears the lock start to turn on the second door. “Wait! Linds, we can’t!”

The noise stops, “Why not? Do you not wanna see me?!” Lindsey asks, incredulous. 

Emily looks her straight in the eye, “You know I do, but the test results haven’t come through yet. I can’t wait to see you, but it’s not worth risking our places at camp.”

Lindsey’s face drops. “I don’t care Son, I’ve already had it, what’s the worst that can happen?” Lindsey asks, almost pleading. 

“The worst that can happen is you getting kicked off the team Linds, and me. You heard them, we’re not to leave our rooms until the results come through.”

She falls back against the door, sliding down it until she’s sat on the floor, back up against the door. She watches Lindsey do the same. 

Emily looks up at Lindsey, her stomach knotting as she sees the disappointment in her best friends face. 

“Hey.. look at me..”, Lindsey’s eyes turn up towards the camera again, “it’s not going to be much longer. Just tonight, then we’ll see each other tomorrow, okay?”

Lindsey just nods, her lips pursed in a straight line. 

“I’m hanging up now, okay?” Emily states, Lindsey looking up at her in a strange mix of surprise and fear. 

“Why? Just stay talking to me, please”

“I will, it’s just I can hear myself talking through the door. I’ll stay right here and listen to your actual voice, not through the tinny speakers of my phone”

She ends the call, putting her phone on the floor beside her. 

“Linds?” 

“I’m here, Em” she hears through the door. 

“So, what now?” Emily asks, cutting through the sudden awkwardness. 

“Shut up Son” Lindsey laughs, all awkwardness instantly forgotten. “Why don’t you tell me about why you’ve got your panties in such a twist this afternoon?” 

Emily laughs loudly, Lindsey smiling widely as she hears the dulled sound through the door. She hears the slight thud as Emily leans her head back against the door, looking up towards the ceiling. A weird relief comes over Lindsey at the thought that only a piece of wood sits between her and her best friends bodies. They were so close, after all this time. 

Emily launches in to the saga of her day, sparing no detail for Lindsey. She includes the fact Mal had been on her flight too, relentlessly teasing her at every opportunity. Not being able to check in on her phone also led to her being in a middle seat, stuck between a woman in the aisle seat who typed on her laptop endlessly through the flight, the clicking of the keys so loud that Emily could hear it through her supposedly noise-cancelling headphones. In the window seat sat a rather rotund man, who spent the entire time bumping his arm into Emily’s, despite her being cramped into her seat and leaving as much distance as possible between herself and him. 

Hearing her best friends laughter through the door caused her to embellish slightly, wanting to draw out that sound more. Once Emily had finished her story, they were both wiping the tears of laughter from their eyes. A sharp, rapping knock on Emily’s hotel door jolted her out of the moment. 

“Shit” Emily whispered. 

“What?” Lindsey whispered back. 

“There’s someone at my door” 

“Well, go answer it then doofus!”

“But what if they know?”

“Know what?”

“Know what we’re doing?”

“What are we doing??”

“Talking!” Emily whispers, slightly louder in exasperation

“Emily. We’re allowed to talk through a door. Go and answer, you big baby. Quickly, or they’ll think you’ve gone out.”

“Good point. Wish me luck”. 

Emily pushes herself up from her place on the floor, pushing the conjoining door to, making sure it doesn’t look like it’s been open, just in case. The knock comes again. 

“I’m coming” she shouts. 

She checks the peephole in the door, but finds no-one standing the other side. She opens the door and looks down to see a covered tray, with “Emily Sonnett” written on the lid. She looks both ways down the corridor until she sees a porter at the far end wearing a mask and gloves. 

“Dinner” he shouts, “we’ll be back to collect the tray later, just leave it outside please.”

She nods and shouts a quick thank you back to him. She picks up the tray, re-opens the conjoining door and takes her place back on the floor. 

“Who was it?” She hears Lindsey pipe up. 

“You’ll find out in 3… 2… 1…”, impressed with herself as she hears Lindsey’s door knock. “Bring your dinner here and eat with me”

“And you called me the needy one” Lindsey chuckles out. 

Emily hears her push up from the door and then her door opening and closing. She hears the tray being put on the floor on the other side of the door, then Lindsey slide back down the door to her former position. Emily removes the lid from her tray.

“Well, at least it’s healthy, I suppose”, looking at the cold grey chicken, sat on a wilted pile of leaves. 

She hears Lindsey removes her tray lid. 

“Ew. Are they serious? This isn’t going to sustain me!”

“Haha, eat up Horan. If we ever get to open up this door, I’ll bring you a protein bar from my luggage”

Lindsey grunts in response, clearly not satisfied by Emily’s offer. Emily has an idea, she leaves her place at the door and heads to the mini fridge in her room, opening the door, her face illuminated from the light inside. She grins widely and pumps her fist, knowing exactly how to put a smile back on Lindsey’s face. 

Emily returns to the door, “Hey, go check your fridge”

“I’m eating”, Lindsey scoffs out, clearly with a mouth full of food. 

“Ewww, don’t talk to me with your mouth full! Who raised you?” 

“You can’t even see me, who cares? Plus, don’t catch my momma hearing you say things like that!”

Emily laughs, scooping some of the sorry looking salad in to her mouth. “Go check the fridge, I’m serious.”

She hears Lindsey huff, but make her way away from the door. Seconds later, she hears a “whoop” faintly from the other room. She hears Lindsey run back towards the door, her deep breaths from the spurt of exercise. 

“What did you find?” Emily asks softly. 

“Yogurt!” Lindsey shouts, the surprise clearly very welcome to her. 

Emily chuckles softly, “happy now?” 

The tone changes, the atmosphere grows ever so slightly heavier. 

“Yeah, Son, I really am”. 

They eat the rest of their food in peace, content knowing the proximity of one another. They sit in a comforting silence, both feeling happier than they have done in the last few months. 

Emily finishes her dinner, placing all of her leftovers and used crockery back on the tray before starting to stand. 

“Hey, I’m just going to put this back out in the corridor and change into my pajamas. Be right back”. 

She gets a grunt of acknowledgement from the other side of the door. 

She makes her way to her main door, opening it and sliding the tray out. Laughing at the scene down the corridor of kamikaze trays laid out. She closes the door, setting the security latch for the night before grabbing her pajamas out of her duffel and making her way to the bathroom. She uses the toilet then splashes some water on her face before putting her sleep shorts and tank top on. She takes off her necklace, placing it by the sink. She grabs a pillow off the bed and makes her way back to the conjoining door. She has no intention of leaving her post, but a bit more comfort wouldn’t go amiss. 

She resumes her post, hearing Lindsey copy her actions through the door. She hears Lindsey’s main door open and close, then the bathroom taps being used. She glances at her phone, desperately hoping she missed her COVID results test, but faces only another pang of disappointment when she realizes they definitely haven’t come through yet. 

“Yo! Hurry up!” she shouts through the door, waiting for Lindsey to return. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming, Little Miss Needy. I’m just putting some clothes back on”

Emily blushes slightly, “Back on..?” she questions. 

“Yeah, I’m just changing into my pajamas. I’m literally naked right now”

Emily splutters, not sure what to say

“Well, not naked” Lindsey continues, “I have underwear on” 

“Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool” Emily responds. Why is this getting to me? She thinks, we see each other half naked in locker rooms all the time! She puts her hand to her cheeks, feeling the warmth there. Not all the time anymore though, she realizes. In fact, it had been 10 months since they’d last been in the same locker room. It’s not like they’d be together in the club locker room anymore. Emily starts to spiral again. The realization once again hitting that they still wouldn’t be playing together at the club level. 

“I’m back and clothed, you’ll be glad to know” Lindsey pipes up. 

Emily is about to respond, but is interrupted by the facetime ringtone again. She looks instinctively to her phone, but the black screen indicates it’s not her phone she can hear. 

“Who is it?” she asks through the door. 

“It’s Sophia”, Lindsey replies, a hint of guilt in her voice. 

“Are you going to answer it?” Emily asks, trying to keep her voice even. “I mean, you shouldn’t really, we’re having a conversation so it would be rude”, she adds, semi-seriously. 

“We’ve not been talking for the last half an hour Son! It won’t take long”

Emily sighs as she hears the bleep to indicate the call has connected. She resigns herself to listening to the conversation through the door.

“Hey Soph, you okay?” 

“Yeah, have you had your dinner? We’re supposed to be professional athletes! If that’s what we get served at full national team camps, I’m going back down to the youth teams” 

Lindsey laughs, Emily rolls her eyes. “Does she not realize we’re in a pandemic?” she thinks. Deep down, she knows her frustration is jealousy. Then again, this is the first time she’s been with her best friend in almost a year. Sophia has been with her all summer. 

The conversation continues, Emily getting more frustrated with the mundane nature of the call. She grabs her phone, an idea hitting her. 

A couple of minutes later, Lindsey’s phone starts ringing again. 

“Soph, sorry, I need to go, my brother is calling me” she interrupts, confusion evident in her voice. 

“Oh okay, call me later” she hears before the call disconnects. 

“Hey bro, what’s up? Is everything okay?” Lindsey asks, slight panic rising as her brother never calls her, only ever text. 

Emily can’t hear the other side this time, but she waits patiently. 

“You are not serious… No, don’t join in with it!.... I’ll have a word with her…. No it’s not funny Mike!... Yeah okay, see you soon…. Love you too… bye”

“Emily Ann Sonnett?” Lindsey barks, “Did you seriously text my brother to get him to tell me to talk to you?”

Emily belly laughs, incredibly appreciative of her relationship with Lindsey’s brother in that moment. 

“Emily! I can’t believe you did that! Mike was having dinner with his fiancé!”

Emily gasps in air, she can’t answer through her laughter. She tries to compose herself, but she hears Lindsey huff loudly and that brings with it a whole new fit of laughter. 

“I can’t believe you. Stop laughing, it’s not funny”

“It… really…. Is….” Emily manages to get out, hardly audible through the laughter. 

Lindsey can’t help but laugh in response. “Oh my gosh, you really think you’re hilarious, don’t you? You’re so proud of yourself right now?”

Emily starts to calm down, “Yeah, actually, I really am. Now talk to me again please. Oh, and grab a pillow, it’ll do wonders for your butt down here”

She hears a pillow thud down by the crack of the door, another thud as Lindsey plonks down on it. 

“I missed you so much Son”, Lindsey says quietly. 

“Me too Linessi”. Emily feeds her fingers into the gap under the door, not really hoping for much, but just wanting to be a little closer to her friend. 

She gasps as she feels Lindsey’s fingers touch hers. There’s not a big enough gap for them to do anything other than lay the tops of their fingers next to one another, but that contact alone stirs feelings deeply within Emily. The butterflies in her stomach start up again but double time, her pulse increasing, but also an overwhelming sense of calm hits. 

She tries to process her feelings. Her and Lindsey were super close in Portland, but contrary to popular belief, they’ve always just been close friends. Nothing more. Firstly, Lindsey is straight, and had a boyfriend at the time. Emily had just never seen her in that way either. But the distance seemed to do something to them. There were mornings that Emily would wake up in Sweden to her phone propped on the pillow next to her, facetime showing a sleeping Lindsey, who must have kept the call connected as she went through the last hours of her day. The calls where Emily would cry down the phone to Lindsey when she first arrived in Sweden, asking if she’d made the right decision. The worst call Emily had had to make to Lindsey, the day they found out Orlando wouldn’t be going to Utah, their chance to see one another gone in an instant. They would work out together at their respective homes, pushing each other from afar. Emily watched Lindsey get stronger, her arms grow bigger, her legs form in to defined muscles. 

Lindsey watched Emily grow thinner. Slightly concerned about her friend, she pushed her to eat more and make sure she wasn’t working off more than she was putting on. The Orlando trade had had a profound impact, not only on Emily, but also on Lindsey, who in the space of a year, had lost her 3 best friends to trades and then the awful trade of her adopted big sister. She felt alone in Portland, choosing to spend as little time there this year as she could, returning home the minute she was able. 

For Emily, the trade hit harder. Not only in terms of resentment towards Portland for their treatment of her. She’d given them all she could and they traded her away for Sophia Smith. Alex, Ash, Ali and the rest of them had been super welcoming when she finally made her way to Orlando, but she could never find peace there. During pre-season training, she didn’t gel with the team. She didn’t feel she fit in with the style of play, or the team dynamic. She also just didn’t like the area, she wasn’t a Floridian and never could be. 

Sweden had been a good change of pace, she met some great people, had a lot of laughs, but also spent a lot of time alone, walking through the city, reflecting on what she wanted. On a particularly emotional virtual walk with Lindsey, Lindsey had told her how great she was. She was a world cup winner, a proven, versatile defender and how she needed to have more belief in herself. Lindsey had asked about her future, what she wanted. 

“I don’t know Linds, I guess I’ll go where I’m traded. If not, I’ll be in Orlando.”

“But that’s not what you want Sonny, you hate it there”

“What choice do I have?”

“You can go wherever you want Em..”

“I can’t come back to Portland, can I?”

“Okay, maybe not anywhere, but you need to have more confidence. You can force a trade, you’re an incredible player Son, I really wish you’d see it.”

“I don’t know, where would I go in NWSL?”

“It doesn’t have to be NWSL, you could stay in Europe”

Emily goes quiet, her face drops. 

“What Em, what did I say?”

“Don’t you want me to come back to the States?”

“I want you to be brilliant” 

Emily scoffs, “what does that even mean?”

“It means that if you’re here, or over there, you have to do what’s best for you. We’ve stayed best friends like this for 8 months, we can do it for longer.” 

Emily returns to the present, a smile plastered to her face when she thinks back to that conversation. 

“Hey Linds?”

“Yeah”

“Thank you”

“For what?”

“Believing in me. If you hadn’t have pushed me when I was in Sweden, I wouldn’t have forced the trade to Washington” 

“I’ll always believe in you Son”

Lindsey moves her fingers as much as the restricted space will let her, running hers up and down Emily’s to comfort her. 

They continue talking for the next couple of hours, about everything and nothing, eventually both falling asleep mid-conversation, still in their positions against the door. 

Emily wakes up suddenly, hit instantly by an awful ache in her neck from her awkward sleeping position. She looks around, confused by her surroundings, lit up only by the light emanating from the screen of her phone. It clicks that her phone must have woken her up. The screen shows 2:42 am, Emily is amazed she’d managed to sleep in that position for quite so long. She checks the notification that woke her. 

COVID Test Lab: We can confirm that the test for EMILY SONNETT has been completed. The results show that the COVID test has returned the result NEGATIVE. 

She breathes a sigh of relief. She was confident the test would be negative, but now she knew she would be able to start training in the morning. Wait! That also means she can socialise! She knocks on the conjoining door loudly. 

“Linds, Linds, wake up”, she knocks again, “Lindsey, wake up now”

She hears Lindsey start to stir. “What the fuck Son? Oh shit, my neck hurts so bad”

“Check your phone, now” Emily says, almost shouting. 

“okay, okay..” Lindsey responds, frustrated with her middle of the night wake up call. 

“What am I looking at?” 

“Did you get your results?” 

“Umm.. yeah, I did, I’m negative”. It clicks, “Did you get yours? What do they say?” Lindsey is giddy suddenly, the same realization as Emily settling in. 

“I’m negative too” 

Lindsey throws open the door that had been the barrier between them for so many hours, finally seeing her best friend in the flesh. The light Lindsey had left on in her room illuminates her best friend to her, Lindsey taking in her slighter frame than the last time they’d seen one another. The more pale skin as a result of spending her summer in Sweden. 

“Hey Linds”, Emily gets out, cursing herself for feeling nervous in this moment. 

“Come here Son”, Lindsey opens her arms.

Emily closes the space between them, wrapping her arms around Lindsey’s shoulders. Lindsey wraps her arms around Emily’s waist, lifting her slightly off the ground. Emily buries her face in Lindsey’s neck, inhaling the smell of her best friend. Flashing back to the last time they’d seen one another, having no idea they would have to wait this long to meet again. She can’t stop the tears forming in her eyes. 

“I missed you so much Linds”, she squeaks out. 

Lindsey’s arms wrap even tighter around her. “I missed you too Son”.


End file.
